Photosynth: The Best Panorama App?

One integral part of any phone is ability to take pictures. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll try to get pictures of everything and everyone in the entire world. That’s why we download photography apps, making the experience even better by adding additional features over the stock camera app.

Last month at Windows.Appstorm I wrote an article entitled “Windows Phone Elite: Photography Apps!” This was a roundup of my favourite Windows Phone photography apps in the marketplace. Each of these apps was brilliant in its own right, but there was one that clearly stuck out. Photosynth. The only app in the world which allows you to take full 360 degree pictures.

Read on to find out more!

Overview

Photosynth is basically a fancy panorama application. Personally, I love taking panorama shots because of how much they can enhance a landscape. Sometimes just one picture isn’t enough, and if you want to try and capture everything this is one of the best ways to do it. A bigger picture in my eyes is always a better picture.

But, there are hundreds of panorama apps in the marketplace. Why is Photosynth so special? This is because of the fact that “It is the only app available on any mobile platform that allows you to capture 360 degrees horizontally and vertically, making a perfect “sphere” picture. This special ability which Photosynth possesses is truly awesome and makes it different from all competitors giving it that slight edge on the competition. Needless to say this has quickly become a highly sought after app.

How Do You Actually Use The App?

Using the application is easier than you might think and can be picked up pretty easily. When you first open up the app you will be able to tap on the screen to take your first picture. After taking this you will be taken to an interface with a green box in the middle. Moving this box around the landscape and tapping will fill in the dark areas on your screen.

The original shot.

Once you’ve tapped and filled in all the blanks you can click the tick at the bottom of the page. This will then take you to a loading screen while the picture is stitched together. One thing I did notice about this app is that it only takes around 30-60 seconds for the picture to be formed. What I’ve found with other applications is that it took up to five minutes just to stitch these pictures together.

Stitching the photo together.

This normally creates an annoying experience as you are unable to take another photo for a stretch of time. With Photosynth this annoyance is fixed and I love it. Using this I can keep taking panoramas over and over without waiting for ages in between.

Functionality

As a panorama app, Photosynth is brilliant. It adds something else to the camera experience, and it’s a clever concept. The app itself is very basic and simple, making it easier for users to capture their favourite scenes. Even though this app does have everything you would ever need, I hope that more is added in the future. Admittedly, I don’t know what could be added, but, more features are always better.

Photosynth is also pretty fast and precise. This isn’t a slow application as I stressed above, everything is quick and gets the job done quickly and to a high standard. Also, this app has only been available on the Windows Phone network since May meaning its a pretty new application. During the last five months this has already established a firm fan base and massive amounts of downloads. I really think more will be added to it in the future, with better things to come.

Featured and Sharing

As well as capturing the picture you can also view other pictures. This is done by navigating along to the “featured” tab. Here you can see pictures from all over the world and explore the whole image. You can also rate and review these pictures and then share them on Facebook and Twitter. This social element of Photosynth is brilliant as its not only an app for you, it’s an app for everyone around you too.

The featured pictures.

Another great thing I love is that how easy it is to share these images to your selected media. By going into your library you have the choice of six different options. Facebook, Twitter, Bing Maps, Photosynth.net, Email or Camera Roll. If for example I selected “Twitter”, I then have the option to add a caption and either send it as an image or as an interactive panorama. This simple element of choice makes the whole process very easy.

Sharing the picture to Facebook.

Wrap-Up

In conclusion, Photosynth is a superb application which works fantastically. Its awesome concept and clean execution are very user friendly and fun. This app encourages people to use their cameras more and that’s something which is an aim of any photography app. So far I’ve found no problems with the app and I love it. However, I would still like to see this version expanded much further to create an even better user experience.